My dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

There was a lot of publicity, much of it misleading, about the Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops that took place last month on the topic of "The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization." The title itself is the source of some of that confusion, so it will help to explain some of these terms.

Some commentators seemed to think that calling it an "Extraordinary General Assembly" meant "extraordinary" in the sense that something remarkable or spectacular was going to happen, such as the Catholic Church approving same-sex marriages. That obviously did not happen and will not happen. "Extraordinary" here is used simply in contrast to "ordinary" in the sense that the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops is scheduled to take place regularly every few years. Periodically, the Synod of Bishops holds assemblies, which are either general, if called to consider matters concerning the universal church, or special, if called for problems of a particular geographical area, such as the Special Assembly for America of the Synod of Bishops, which was called by Pope St. John Paul II and was held in the Vatican from Nov. 16 to Dec. 12, 1997. The general assemblies are either ordinary (held at fixed intervals) or extraordinary (held outside of schedule). The adjective "extraordinary" in this case simply means a special meeting that is not regularly scheduled. Next year's "Ordinary General Assembly" should interpret "ordinary" not to mean routine or boring, but rather that it is just taking place as already scheduled.

Pope Francis called this year's Extraordinary Synod to prepare for next year's Ordinary General Assembly in 2015, to continue the work of this year's synod, to "reflect further on the points discussed" and "to formulate appropriate pastoral guidelines." The interim report that was issued at the mid-point of this year's meeting was intended only as a working document for the participants of the synod, summarizing many of the points discussed. The fact that there was a wide range of opinion expressed led some to believe changes in doctrine were imminent. Such was not the case. Pope Francis encouraged a frank exchange of views, but was not suggesting any change in doctrine.

There also was some misunderstanding about the nature of a synod. The word "synod" comes from Greek and simply means "meeting." A Synod of Bishops is not a meeting of all the bishops from around the world, like an ecumenical council, but only of representatives of national conferences of bishops. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops was represented by our president, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, and Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C. According to canon law, the Synod of Bishops is advisory to the pope, not a legislative body like the United States Congress.

After the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops meets next autumn to continue the conversation about the pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelization, the Holy Father will take their recommendations into consideration and most likely will issue an apostolic exhortation several months later sometime in 2016. The pope is not required to follow the recommendations of the Synod but surely will take them into consideration.

Another aspect of the title of both this year's Extraordinary Synod and next year's Ordinary Synod that is often overlooked is that the discussion about the challenges of the family is to be considered in the context of evangelization. In other words, the discussion is not focused solely on the family for its own sake, but is related to how challenges to the family are affecting the church's ability to evangelize.

In this regard, it is not surprising that many bishops noted that the church's teachings on marriage and family life are often a stumbling block for people. Here in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, the recently-published survey of active and inactive Catholics conducted by Benedictine University reported some Catholics stopped attending Mass or distanced themselves from the Catholic Church because they took "exception with church doctrine on birth control, women as priests, divorce/remarriage, fertility treatments, and homosexuality." Some would suggest that the Catholic Church therefore needs to change these doctrines in response to these survey findings. But many mainline Protestant churches have tried such softening of moral teachings with disastrous results. A more effective response consistent with the teachings of Christ is to present the church's teachings more clearly and convincingly.

The results of the Benedictine University survey will be discussed in more detail along with my response at a symposium to be held at Benedictine University in Springfield on Nov. 24. The public will be welcome to ask questions at the evening session. I pray that our survey along with the meetings of the Synod of Bishops this year and next year will help the church to grow quantitatively and qualitatively by effectively addressing the challenges of family life.

May God give us this grace. Amen.